Last Night's Kiss

by Shirley Hailstock

  “We’ll be leaving early in the morning, but we hoped you’d have dinner with us.”

  “I’d love to,” she said.

  “And bring Adam,” Owen said. “You two are a couple.”

  Chapter 12

  The long robe that covered Rosa’s naked body rippled through Adam’s fingers like running water. He loved the feel of her warm body beneath it, and while they had just made love, he wanted her again. Pulling her onto his lap, Adam kissed her. No matter how often they made love, he found it hard to believe he could ever have enough of her. They had come down from the bedroom only a short time ago, both in need of drinks to assuage the thirst their lovemaking had created. Yet as he held her, kissing her aroused him and he wanted her a second time.

  “What did you think of dinner?” she asked when he slid his mouth from hers.

  He drank thirstily from the bottle of water he’d retrieved from the refrigerator. He’d just endured dinner with her family. He’d never had to do that before, never had to gain the approval of a parent or relative of anyone he was seeing. Yet in Rosa’s case it was important to him that her brothers sanctioned their relationship.

  “The food was excellent,” he said. “I could have done without dessert. I had something much more tasty in mind.”

  She swung at him, but he dodged the punch. “You know what I mean.”

  “What do you think? Did I pass muster?”

  Rosa sat up, pulling her robe closer together. “You think that’s what my brothers were doing?”

  “Absolutely. There could be no doubt about it. So, did I pass?”

  “I didn’t ask them. Their opinion doesn’t matter.”

  “Well, have I passed with you?”

  She sat back, her expression indignant. “You have to ask?”

  “I wanted to know,” Adam said.

  The sky was big and clear on the morning of Bailey’s seventieth birthday. Rosa began the day with a short ride. She met Bailey and Joel at the stables. They only walked the horses, as Bailey told them more stories of his youth. Rosa enjoyed them and Joel asked a lot of questions.

  “You know, you should teach history,” Joel told Bailey.

  “What?”

  “Well, if my history teachers were as interesting as you are, I wouldn’t be so bored in class.”

  Bailey let out a huge belly laugh.

  The ride was short and they returned to the house quickly.

  “Coming in for breakfast?” Bailey asked as they left the horses behind.

  Rosa nodded. “I can already smell Medea’s bacon.” She rarely stayed for the meal. The temptation of Medea’s cooking was too much for her to resist, but this was his birthday and she wanted to give him his present early. She expected that everywhere she would go that day people would be talking about the party. It appeared the entire Valley planned to turn out for the celebration. Medea had been busy getting ready for days.

  Joel looked so much better than the thin child with dark circles under his eyes he’d been when he arrived. They went to the kitchen and took seats at the table.

  “Morning,” Medea said.

  “Good morning,” they all said choirlike.

  “Where’s Adam?” Bailey asked Medea.

  “He went out early this morning. I suppose he’s picking up your gift.”

  She set plates in front of each of them and put food on the table.

  “Yep, it’s my birthday. I never thought I’d live this long.”

  “How old are you?” Joel asked, digging into his eggs.

  “Seventy,” Bailey said quickly. “Born at ten o’clock in the morning. So we have another couple of hours before the blessed event.”

  “Not quite,” Rosa said. “I want you to open my present now.”

  She got up and left the room. She retrieved the wrapped gift from the car and returned to the kitchen.

  “Happy birthday,” she said, and slid it in front of him.

  “Gee, such pretty wrapping paper,” Medea said. She’d stopped what she was doing and looked at Bailey and the present. “Well, go on,” Medea prompted. “Open it. Don’t keep us waiting all day.”

  Bailey pulled the paper free, opened the box, and removed the framed book. The cover was etched glass and had his name and photo engraved on the surface. “What is this?” he laughed. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Open it,” Rosa said.

  He removed the frame and lifted the hardcover coffee-table-size book out. The cover held the same photo of Bailey as the frame had. He was on horseback, looking directly at the camera.

  “Handsome guy, don’t you think?” he said to Joel.

  Joel laughed.

  “Thank you, Rosa. This is absolutely beautiful.” He opened it and looked at some of the pictures that Rosa had taken. He read a few of the captions and chuckled. “I wish my grandmother could have seen some of these. They are beautiful.”

  He got up and came around to her. “Thank you, dear.” He kissed her on the cheek. “This makes me very happy.”

  Rosa smiled. She was moved, too. She could see that Bailey really liked what she had done. The book had turned out better than she imagined it would.

  “Look at this, Medea. She’s got one of you in here.” He showed the book to Medea.

  She flipped through a few pages. “They are really good pictures, Rosa.”

  “Any of me?” Joel asked as if they had forgotten he was in the room.

  “Sorry, Joel, when I sent them off to be bound you hadn’t arrived yet.”

  “It’s all right,” Joel conceded. “You did take a lot of pictures of me, too.”

  “I’m going to have to ask you all to leave my kitchen,” Medea said. “With the party tonight, I have a lot of work to do.”

  “Evicted from my own kitchen,” Bailey teased. “And on my birthday, too.”

  They laughed and left the room. While the party wasn’t at the ranch, Medea was preparing food there. Joel went upstairs to brush his teeth and play video games. He’d made himself at home, seemingly settling in and ready to stay.

  Rosa and Bailey went into the great room. She took the chair she liked so much and together they looked at each of the pictures in the book. When they came to the one she took of Adam the day Rosa shot the bear, Bailey stopped.

  “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”

  Rosa coughed, not knowing what to say. Adam had never said he loved her, no matter what Joel had told her. Or how she interpreted his words.

  “There’s no use denying it,” Bailey continued. “I can see it in the way you look at him. And if I didn’t know it by that, this would convince me.” He looked down at the picture. Adam stood on the mountain, looking in the distance. Rosa had captured the essence of him. She’d found the one second when he was vulnerable, when emotion instead of logic ruled him, and she’d opened the shutter.

  “I know Adam wants to return to Washington. I know I’m the obstacle that’s keeping him from returning to a life he loves. He may even love you and I’m keeping him from letting your relationship move ahead.”

  “I’m sure you’re wrong,” Rosa said.

  “Nope,” Bailey said. “I’m seventy today and I tell no lies.”

  “How could your presence keep Adam and me apart?”

  “You’ll be leaving. Adam is torn between wanting to go with you and leaving me here.”

  “Adam loves you,” Rosa told him.

  “I know that. I love him, too. But he can’t keep me alive. When it’s my time, there’ll be nothing he can do about it.”

  “He can spend time with you.”

  “At the expense of his own life. That is not the natural order of things. Not how it’s supposed to be.”

  “Have you told him this?”

  “Yes, but he’s pigheaded and won’t listen.”

  “Gee, I wonder where he gets that trait?” They both laughed. Rosa didn’t want to get between Bailey and Adam. Their relationship was unique to them and she was an outsider who did
n’t know both sides of the story. She wanted Adam, but she couldn’t make him change his mind, either. And she couldn’t stay past the summer.

  She knew she’d come back, however. While Adam and his father had a special relationship, so did she and Adam. And she’d passed the point where she wanted to end it.

  “I take it you like the book?” Rosa changed the subject.

  Bailey looked at her with the same eyes Adam did. She could see his feelings in them. He made no attempt to hide his, while Adam often did. “I expect the party today will be full of presents, most of them useless, but no matter what else I get, nothing will compare with this. Thank you.”

  Rosa felt a lump in her throat. But she managed a tight “You’re welcome.”

  “Look at him.” Bailey pointed to the picture of Adam. Rosa looked. “I remember when I was his age. I was a hell-raiser. So was Adam in his teens. By the time I was thirty I’d settled down, but it was the prime of my life. It was the time for making memories. I got married. We had Adam. Lived.”

  “You don’t think Adam is doing that?” It was a statement.

  Bailey shook his head. “Rosa, you’re young. Adam is young. You’re supposed to pursue your dreams when you’re young, not sit around and wait for people to die.”

  “Adam isn’t waiting for you to die.”

  “What would you call it? He’s refusing all offers for a job he wants. One that is perfect for him. He’s putting everything on hold until I’m gone. Then his life can begin. That’s no way to live. Day by day it’ll eat at him and he’ll end up a bitter old man. And who knows how long that’ll be? By the time he’s ready, the opportunity may be gone.”

  Rosa looked down at the image of Adam. “I understand his dilemma,” she said. “My mother died of a heart attack a couple of years ago.” Rosa felt the emotion in her throat and forced it down. “I was there at the time, but I regret spending so much time away from home. I wished I could have been with my mother, making memories, having as much time as possible with her before she died. Instead, I was off in the capitals of the world wearing clothes most people can’t afford.”

  “She wouldn’t have wanted that.”

  “Maybe not,” Rosa said. “But I wanted it.”

  Neither of them knew Adam was standing outside the door. He’d come into the house only moments ago, but long enough to hear Rosa speaking of her mother. He’d been thinking of returning to Washington, taking the job that Ben offered him. But hearing her, he made his decision. He didn’t want to have the regrets Rosa had. She was luckier than he was. She had brothers and a sister. There were other siblings to be with her parents while she was away.

  Bailey only had him.

  The library had the largest hall in the Valley if you didn’t count the high school gym. The main salon had once been the central ballroom of the mansion that Luke and Clara Evans lived in. Generally the room was used for events. There were a few bookshelves along the walls, but it mainly reflected its former glory, period furniture and early American paintings. Streamers hung from the ceiling, along with balloons and colored lights. A huge happy birthday sign covered the entrance, announcing the evening’s festivities. Presents were stacked in another room, too many to open.

  The original floor was wooden, but a dance floor had been constructed over it to protect it from the many feet that would celebrate Bailey’s seventh decade. The Valley put on its finest for the party. Women sparkled in sequined-covered dresses and men sported tuxedos. They twisted and twirled to the music. Bailey was the man of the hour in his tux and Medea had changed into a gown of gray lace with pearls covering the bodice.

  Rosa’s breath had caught in her throat earlier when she opened the door and Adam stood there dressed as if he were about to enter the White House reception room.

  We’re a couple, she thought. Her brother Owen had said it. Rosa was poised to deny it then, but not tonight. Adam took her in his arms and danced her around the floor of the house that his great-grandparents had moved into as newlyweds. His hand touched her back where there was no fabric, only skin. His fingers aroused her. Rosa was amazed at how Adam’s touch could send her into flights of fantasy. She leaned her head back to smile up at him.

  “You’d better stop that,” Rosa said. “You don’t want the whole town to see what you’re doing to me.”

  Adam raised a single eyebrow. “Isn’t that why you wore this dress, so I could put my hands on you?”

  Rosa didn’t get to answer. The music ended then and Adam’s hands snaked down her arms until his fingers reached hers. Together they walked off the floor. Along the back wall was a bar. They headed for it. Adam snagged two glasses of wine and gave one to her.

  “It’s loud in here. Why don’t we find a quiet place?”

  “I get it. You just want to be alone with me,” she teased.

  “You found me out.” He took her hand just as Tommie stopped in front of them.

  “Adam, Rosa,” Tommie said. “Did you see the pictures? They came today. They are gorgeous. And Crawford is working on a job for me in New York.”

  “Calm down, Tommie,” Adam said. “You don’t want to fly away before you get the chance to get to New York.”

  “Congratulations,” Rosa said, and hugged her. “I know you’ll do a good job.”

  “I can’t thank you and Vida enough.”

  Vida and Mike arrived as if on cue. “Did I hear my name?” Vida said.

  “I was telling them about the photos,” Tommie explained.

  “We knew you’d be good, Tommie,” Vida told her.

  “I’ll drop by with the photos,” Tommie said to Rosa and moved off toward a small group that included several young men.

  “Ah, the energy,” Vida said. “Remember when we were that enthusiastic?”

  “I still am,” Rosa said.

  “I know,” Vida said. “You’ll be leaving us in just a couple of weeks. I can’t believe the summer has gone by so fast.”

  Rosa wasn’t looking at Adam, but she felt his body tighten. Unconsciously, she reached for his hand. Finding it, she squeezed it.

  “How are the wedding plans coming?” Rosa changed the subject. She didn’t want to think about leaving tonight. She knew she had to go, but she could put off the inevitable for a few more days.

  “Now that I’ve gotten over the stress, they’re going well.”

  Vida had finally finished the design of her gown. It had taken her nearly a week. And her office took the brunt of her frustration. But after a while, she found the right lines and coupled them with pearl and lace accessories that she thought would enhance the dress and that special day. When Rosa saw the final design, she gasped at the perfection of it. Immediately she wanted to model it, but this one was for only one model.

  “I’m so glad the gown is done. Hercules is going to make it for me. He’s given it a high priority since the ceremony is so close.”

  “Hercules?” Adam repeated.

  “He’s the greatest tailor in the world,” Vida said. “Designers vie for his services.”

  “Come on, Vida, let’s dance.” Mike took his fiancée’s arm. “If I don’t stop her now, she’ll keep up the wedding talk all night.”

  “I will not,” Vida objected, but she let Mike lead her to the dance floor.

  Rosa sipped her wine. She and Adam strolled around the room, speaking to friends and watching the dancers on the floor, but neither made a move to join them. At the door to the main entry room of the library, they passed through it. They gravitated to the seats where they’d met before. She wondered if Adam remembered.

  “You know you’re going to be missed in there,” Rosa said.

  “Not as much as your absence will be noticed. All eyes were on you, not me.”

  Rosa looked around the room. She loved the smell of books. Eventually, when she settled and stopped traveling so much, she planned to have a library full of books. “I’m glad I came to the Valley for the summer.”

  “We are a colorful lot,” Ada
m acknowledged.

  “You are,” she agreed, her attention coming back to where he stood.

  “Small towns are great places to get to know people,” Adam said.

  “True,” Rosa said. “Big towns are impersonal. You’d never meet anyone there.”

  “You’re mocking me?”

  Rosa sobered. “Of course I am. I know all my neighbors.”

  “Yeah, but you’d be noticed no matter where you lived.”

  “I live in New York. When are you going to accept that job in D.C.? You know you want it.”

  “What did my father say to you?”

  “When?”

  “This morning, after breakfast, when the two of you were in the great room.”

  Rosa had to think a moment. Then she remembered. “He said we were young people. That it was our time for making memories.”

  “And you said you wished you’d made more memories with your mother.”

  “You were listening.” She stared at him, her eyes opening wide at the realization.

  “Only the end of the conversation. I came in just before Joel came running down the stairs.”

  “What I said is true, but I thought about it after I left Bailey. I have a wealth of memories with my mother. I hadn’t thought about them in a while. We talked a lot while I was away on trips. My brother Dean insisted we use these video conference machines. Later we switched to the Internet. The talks we had probably made us better friends than if I’d been with her every day. I’m very fond of that time. I wouldn’t give it up for anything.”

  “You’re suggesting I get video equipment?”

  “Not quite. You can use the Internet. This way you can see your father on the screen.”

  “But I can’t keep him from doing things he’s not supposed to do from sixteen hundred miles away.”

  “He’s not a child, Adam. And how good a job are you doing by being here? When he had the heart attack, you were only a few miles away, but you weren’t with him. You can’t always be with him.”

  He weighed her words a second before answering, “I just want him around as long as possible.”

  “Then you have to let him live.”